When hi-tech is run like a corn-flakes company
A perceptive article! HP, and Microsoft and Dell are all suffering from executive and organizational bloat, and are demonstrating that well known industry truism that more is often less. Companies have a lifecycle, where they go from lean, motivated start-ups to whale-sized dinosaurs who can't achieve much, including profit growth.
The problem usually occurs when the ''Senior VP" layer is added. This is when a large bureaucracy is needed to support the new chiefs. These fiefdoms then spend most of their time fighting each other for turf, losing all sight of what made them interesting. The result is a stifling "Excellence by Process" attitude that achieves by grinding everything for a long time and then needing 30 executive signatures to accept the color of the 'Start" button.
Decentralization and removal of upper-layer bloat is the only real hope HP has. Maybe an asset-stripper is just what they need, though delicate surgery rather than blunt knives might be more appropriate.